Dog Behaviour Advice - Dog Advice Articles

Dog training for sociability

My aim is to promote the teaching for sociable dogs and stem the incidence
of dog aggression within our society. We currently use two established methods
of training. One uses enforcement and the other using the rules that all dogs
understand. It is also possible to use a bit of both depending on how much
success you are achieving. Using the enforcement method is best taught at training
classes because this is a handling method and as dogs will fight against this
you do need someone proficient in the dogs body language to give you some assistance
in method and interpretation. The more times you fail to complete the exercise
the harder each subsequent attempt becomes. Our other method is simply translating
verbal commands to actions the dog is completing for itself in its daily life.
A problem will exist if you train on your own as this lacks the sociability
classes that are the most important part of any training programme.

I hear people say you cannot train dogs like you train your children but you
do. Look at a simple scenario. You call your child and dog for their meals.
You repeat the call and again no response from either. On the fifth call both
child a dog turn up and you wish this to stop. Which do you think would learn
the quicker were you to treat both to the same punishment? People would say
you can talk to a child and you cannot talk to a dog. Ok to make it fair do
not talk to either. What do you do? Simple, in front of them both tip both
meals into the bin. I would bet money that the dog would come first when you
call on the next occasion.

I hope now having read my articles this far has made you think a little differently
about your dog. You may think that a problem you once had you could have resolved
had you thought a different way some time ago. It is not necessary for me to
tell you exactly how to complete each exercise because you are capable of thought
and by looking at a problem from a slightly different angle you may actually
come up with a quicker way to teach an exercise than the so called experts.
Each person and dog is different and what is important is that you learn to
understand your own dog. Very many years ago, I sat and listened to a talk
on dog behaviour by my friend John Rogerson and I became aware of a completely
new way of thinking on how to read my dog. If you could obtain any of his books,
they are well worth a read. The one he wrote for children is certainly well
worth obtaining.

Do you want your dog as a simple companion or do you enjoy training your dog
or even entering competitions. I will give one warning that if you decide to
expand your dogs abilities in all fairness to your dog do not give up the learning
process as a trained dog that becomes bored is heartbreaking to see. We had
a highly trained dog owned by a publican who had to give up training and the
dog had to stay in the upstairs party room. It literally took the room apart
in search of attention. I have seen working collies running around in circles
all day and taking to chasing vehicles because they no longer had a fulfilling
work role to play.

I have described the teaching of the basic commands, as taught by both methods.
These are the sit, stand, down, stay and the most important one the come
or recall command. As I say you can teach these by yourself but using the
enforcement method is usually quicker if you attend a class where an instructor
can teach you to teach your dog. Having your dog professionally trained does
work to very small degree but as you will not be as proficient as the instructor
after a few weeks back home your dog will revert back to its old ways.

The one thing you cannot teach on your own is the most important one of all,
that is sociability, and for that you need other people and other dogs. You
could set up puppy clubs with weekly meetings where you can start right at
the very beginning so all the pups are use to people and pups coming and going
so they become accustomed to the idea of an infinite pack. I mentioned in an
earlier article that you could have weekly walks or barbecues for dogs and
owners or even simple training classes. For real fun, you could have agility
classes and run some agility competitions. Speaking from experience dogs love
these as they have the opportunity to work for themselves and it is great fun
for everybody to watch. You could even take up searching, tracking, criminal
work and the list is endless. As it says on a web site, where do you want to
go to today?

I will say at this point do you have any questions, queries, disagreements
or subjects you would like me to cover then please contact me. I will cover
steadiness to gun, as with so many fiestas here teaching your dog not to be
frightened of bangs would prove useful. All my dogs loved watching the fireworks
displays at a safe distance of course. I will also cover the teaching of food
refusal, as I understand there is a high incidence of poisoned dogs here too.
Another articles will be on the types of games to play with your dog and the
rules you need to follow.

Which ever breed you have chosen all dogs are born with inbuilt behaviour
created from their past relatives and only future breeding can change this.
This does not mean that all American Pit Bulls are all natural fighters and
therefore dangerous. I have seen many that are nothing like their publicity.
When choosing a dog what it will look like when fully grown with its natural
traits must play a major part in your decision. If you see a puppy German Shepherd
with big ears and massive paws you are likely to have a big dog when it grows
up. Choosing a pedigree pup will and should indicate to you what your dog will
look like and its likely character but inbreeding can create problems that
mongrel or crossbreeds seem immune to. I believe how to choose a dog is best
left to an article all of its own as there are so many things to look for.
I would always advise anyone to never purchase a dog in haste as you could
regret this in the future.

We all learn by our mistakes and from our attempts at problem solving so I
will cover a few problems that I have received lately. An owner queried that
her German Shepherd had developed grisly sacks on the front of each elbow.
I had a dog that had similar sacks but attributed this to his preference to
lying on cold concrete. Nothing could clear them but I eventually tried him
on a wooden pallet for him to lie on and as air circulated, below him he found
it cool and stopped lying on the concrete. You could try an aerobic mat, as
these are cool and more comfortable with the possibility of reducing arthritis
problems in later life.

Does castrating a dog turn it into a docile dog? (I would be a bit peeved)
No, there is nothing in official statistics that prove that a castrated dog
is any less likely to become savage. Most dog rescue organisations as a matter
of policy castrate dogs leaving their care in the belief that it reduces the
risk of the possibility of selling a dangerous dog.

A one-year-old German Shepard Dog howls and screams when it meets another
person and appears more aggressive on the lead than off. The high pitch of
the bark indicates that the dog is in the wrong situation as a leader and for
which it is not competent to perform. To reduce the howls and screams try to
meet up with a friend and talk without showing any interest in your dog. Stand
sideways on to your dog and totally ignore it. If it is very noisy, take some
cotton wool for your ears. Wait for your dog to stop howling for a few moments
and then give praise and a titbit. If it starts howling again just ignore the
dog. You are encouraging your dog to do nothing when you meet people, as you
should control the meeting not the dog. It is also useful to teach speak on
command exercise as this includes a cease command. If your dog will hold things
in its mouth you could give, your dog the lead to hold and that should keep
it quiet.

More aggressive on the lead is simply the support you as a handler give to
your dog in any confrontation by retaining a tight lead. To stop this if you
are using a noose lead of some type is to jerk the dog back to your side saying
no or finish then immediately reduces the tightness of the lead. At first the
dog will jump forward again, you must repeat the jerk and finish command. You
can give a titbit as a reward to take the dogs mind off its previous behaviour.
Keep doing this until your dog stops jumping forward and then give plenty of
praise. If you consider a confrontation is likely to happen then make your
dog sit stand or down without a tight lead and give it praise and a titbit.

Many years ago doctors would prescribe aspirin for just about anything and
so it is with many dogs that their problems are traceable back to a lack of
leadership. Within any team, someone must be the leader to do the problem solving
and looking after everyone. Good leadership does not mean domination. If you
have good leadership, your dog will give you great respect. I had to stay at
my parent’s house for a short while and they wanted me to allow my dog
into the house at night. My mum, bless her heart, kept encouraging my dog to
sleep in her room, which he was willing to do but he would never come into
my room. I could have felt offended even though I knew a dog should never sleep
in the bedrooms. I realised that my dog respected me as his leader and why
he would not enter my bedroom. This it is just the way dogs think. Though dogs
sleeping in your bedrooms is very much frowned upon, I will not ask for a show
of hands for all the dogs that do. The reason is thus that subordinate wolves
do not sleep with the two dominant leaders or as sometimes called the Alpha
male and female. This is why some dogs have attacked husbands (or the wife
said kill). Also sleeping here places, the children in a subordinate position
to your dog and why some dogs have attacked children. Please do consider these
points if you are considering making this choice. I must say that some dogs
do not care where they sleep, as the position within the hierarchy means nothing
to them providing you feed them regularly.

Next week I will show how to teach steadiness to gun and food refusal.